2001
Spiritual Goods: Faith Traditions and the Practice of Business
Laurie Zoloth
Pages 381-401
Her Work Sings Her Praise
A Framework for a Feminist Jewish Ethic of Economic Life
Jewish ethics provides resources not only for exotic cases, but also for the practical necessities of everyday business practice, such as sustaining non-profit health care. Non-profit health care presents tough choices for justice because it is motivated by community compassion but must meet the pressures of the marketplace. Feminist ethics offers an "ethics of care" to guide our actions in such conflicts. This article argues that an ethics derived from both ferrlinism and Jewish sources calls for a different approach, one which is rooted in the history of business practice, in the history of women's leadership in this health care, and in the Jewish legal teaching (halacha) that seeks a balance between competing moral appeals in the marketplace.